Thailand 2013: Week One

To reiterate what the purpose of this trip is for friends and family reading this, I am taking a 3 week course on the psychology of addiction, Buddhism, and the Golden Triangle. We are here in Thailand because of the history of the drug trade in the area, particularly opium and meth. We are interested in how Buddhism has played a role in the trafficking, treatment, and prohibition of the drugs. The course also includes learning about Buddhism and meditation itself which I enjoy very much.

The last 8 days abroad have been an exhausting continuum of time separated by departure and arrival rather than night and day.The two day travel period to Bangkok included a 12 hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany. The waiters were mean, the shopping was expensive, and the beer was great.

Our introduction to Thailand could not have been more chaotic. I was still in my MSP clothes when we got off the plane and were dropped off right in the city by shuttle. My body was shocked in the best way by the tropical heat. The city was very condensed and active getting ready for New Year's Eve the following day. We spent the day in Bangkok on the river and in a beautiful Buddhist temple. We had one wild night in the red light district knocking back shots of Thai whiskey and taking photos with prostitutes and ladyboy strippers. To censor this blog for my family, I won't say anymore about this except that the late night and booze had serious consequences on my body the next morning.

That day we left Bangkok to start our studies and took a bus to a treatment center ran by Buddhist monks. I had little knowledge of Wat Thom Krabok and was expecting something very similar to a religious treatment center in the United States. I wasn't very thrilled in the midst of my extreme hangover about seeing patients locked up in a grey-walled facility with strict schedules and required visits to temples. What I had expected could not have been more wrong! The facility was spread in nature and the patients enjoyed beautiful, intricate temples and enormous buddha statues everywhere along the view of the mountains and endless color of the tropical trees and flowers. They lived a simple and sustainable life by spending a lot of their time outdoors with the monks in what I consider tribal paradise. I was especially in awe of the labor that had gone into creating the statues and temples for this place that can be described better with the photos I took.

We received an outdoor temple lecture from a monk about self control and the importance of meditation in the path of recovery and life in general. As a very spiritual person, I focused on soaking in the ambiance and raw energy of this enchanted place as he spoke. It made me breathe easier even though I still felt like shit from my night in Bangkok.

He then told us that we were going to watch "the show." We walked over to a courtyard where all the patients were standing waiting for the monks in front of a trench where buckets of water were aligned. I had no idea what was going on, and then another student informed me that we were about to watch them vomit. I knew that part of the detox process here was to vomit once a day for the first 5 days of treatment. I did not realize that they puke right next to each other and I sure as hell didn't think this was something we were going to witness. I felt like the students and I were lining up to watch a freak-show and I thought there was no way that all of the patients were comfortable with this.

One of the monks then asked in a sarcastic tone if anyone wanted to join them. Even though he was probably joking, two male students from my group stepped up without hesitation. I'm not sure if any outsider has ever participated in this before. I don't know what compelled me to join in with them but a moment later I also walked up to the line of patients kneeling over the trench. Maybe it was because I wanted the patients to know I supported them and appreciated their willingness to do this, or maybe it was because I knew that I was far too nauseated already to watch this without puking myself anyway. I held on to one of my traveling stones for comfort. Someone started pounding on drums and bystanders clapped and chanted. I felt like I was in some kind of crazy tribal ceremony and it gave me a rush of adrenaline. The monks brought us shots of an herbal concoction made up by a woman decades ago that only two people now know the recipe for. I was last and seeing the almost immediate projectile vomit reaction people had from it made me hesitate for a minute before I finally took the "medicine." The stuff looked like swamp mud and tasted like earthy liquid chalk. I was then told to drink water from the bucket until I couldn't anymore. A woman with a soothing voice and english accent could see I was struggling a lot and came up to me to coach me through it. While still clutching my stone, I chugged water until I felt my stomach turn inside out. The puke came in waves and I purged for probably 10 minutes straight with a breath and chug of water in between each one. When I say purge, I mean that vomit sprayed out of my mouth and nose periodically in front of 40-some people until it ran clear. When I felt like I was finished I realized I was the last one. I was really shaky and patients giggled at me when I tried to stand up.

Afterward we gathered around the courtyard and talked with the patients from all over the globe. Several of them came up to me to ask how I was feeling and gave me their support. It took me awhile to recover but when I did I realized that I had nearly rid myself of my hangover. I can now say first hand that I have experience the benefit of this style of treatment. I wondered if the patients feel dramatically better after each vomiting ceremony as well. Either way, the ceremony was one of the most disgusting, ballsy, and coolest things I have ever done. I am communicating with my professor about inquiring on visiting Wat Thom Krabok again. I would love to stay and volunteer my time there to learn more about these people and their way of life.

I had a talk with the same monk that gave us the lecture earlier that day about a really crazy dream I had about a deity. His interpretation was very interesting and the background and explanation on this is very lengthly, so I will post more on this later.

I haven't even skidded the surface of all the amazing things I have discovered here. I am currently in Chiang Mai which is my favorite city we have seen so far. We have seen several *amazing* temples and have meditated at temple ruins. I am thinking about tattooing some of the art I have seen on me from these temples. The food is incredible and I have been in shopping heaven. I still cannot describe my obsession with nature here. I have been observing the veins and leaves of every flower and fruit I have the chance to take a closer look at.

We still have 2 weeks abroad and I will be updating this hopefully more frequently.

Until then,

-T